The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1887-03-25
NO PLACE FOR LITTLE WOMEN.


Nobody VIII Employ Them, While ThciE
Big Sisters Have Fine Situations.
Few have any idea of the trials and
tribulatiOnS of cultivated women small u
stature, who seek honest employment in
this city The little lady may be modest,
pretty, neatly dressed, affable in CONVEX
sation and agreeable in manner, yet al
most every avenue leading to a respect
able living is closed to her. The shop
naeper picks his female help in the spirit
that anin1ates him when he makes dis
play of goods in his windows. And it
must be confessed that practically, if rot
theoretically, he is right. A commanding
and fine looking woman will sell seal
skin cloak in five cases out of six where a
little body would fail. The big woman
can expatiate more grandly on its merits,
and by wrapping 1T around her and parad-
ing before a mirror, show it off in all its
perfection. The little lady may be refined
gold, but there is nothing impressive
about her. Her small stature is a mis-
fortune that she cannot remedy. She can
not become a floor walker in dry goods
emporium, for she lacks the sweep and
carriage and the 1ordly aplOmb which awe
employees and attract purchasers. She
has great trouble in securing even place
behind the counter. Her fragihty and
tiny size are in the way. She cannot
reach the goods on a top shelf, nor can
she return them after sale is made with
out climbing to the counter which I'M
graceful act would quench the last spark
Of dignity left by nature at her birth.
She is out Of place again in the parlorS
Of fashionable milliner or dresSmaker.
You may find her sitting in little back
room adjoining, stitching away in a bad
light and worse atmosphere, with her
knees up to her chin, but you will never
see her in the SaleSrOOm. GA small
woman is out of place in a showroom ~
said the proprietor of Il fashion warehouse,
when one of her friends sought a situation
for a worthy but understood lady. II
have no use for her there. She cannot
sell even a pattern. People will not go to
her. They will hardly ask her question.
They pass her by as though she was
child, and go to a saleswOman more sly
ish and commanding. One is prominent
and the other Insignificant in appearance,
and the prominent figure invariably at
tracts attention.
A place for the little lady was found in
the mailing department at So week. At
the same time a tall woman of good figure
who carried her head like Juno, neither
well educated nor particularly agreeable,
was placed in the show room at $14 per
week. She was not as refined or as pains
taking as the little one, but she had the
physique so highly priced by an expert
enced modiste. The little one toiled ten
hours day with hardly Il respite, while |
the big woman walked grGndly up and
down the parlor experimenting sales and
keeping everything trim.
Petite women are rarely employed as |
forewOmen in large business houses. Such |
situations are almost invariably filed by |
ladies of regular figure and hauteur. A |
few are pretty, some are intellectual, and |
less are charming. Many are Amazons
by nature as well as in appearance. They |
are made majestic by size and bearing |
alone, and are nearly destitute of feeling |
for those of smaller stature whose lines
are not cast in places so pleasant. Such !
foreWOmen command from $50 to $50 a |
week. They can be found in every estab-
lishment where fashionable female attire |
is sold. Salaries seem to be proportional |
to the size of the women employed, and |
not on her ability. There are hundreds |
of little women holding comparatively |
pleasant situations, but even in these they !
labor under natural disadvantages. The |
salaries are light, and their figures forbid |
promotion. The little ones are to be |
York Mail and Express.